Tips For Choosing Vegetables On The Medifast Diet

I'm sometimes asked if you can have vegetables on Medifast, and, if so, which ones and how often. I heard from someone who said: "are you allowed to eat whatever vegetables you want on medifast? What types of portion sizes can you have? And are some types of vegetables favored over another type?" I'll address these concerns in the following article.

Most (But Not All) Of Your Vegetables Will Be In Your Lean And Green Meal:

As you probably already know, many of your meals are provided by the company in the form of prepackaged choices. If you're going to be on the popular 5 plus 1 plan, you will eat five prepackaged meals and have one lean and green meal that you prepare or provide. Now in terms of vegetables, some of the soups and stews contain vegetables and you don't need to count or worry about those. So you will sometimes eat vegetables in your provided meal. Also, you can have celery for an approved snack outside of your five meals. So, it's possible that you will have some vegetables before you even think about preparing a meal for yourself. So to answer the question posed, you can eat most all vegetables on Medifast, depending on which program you are on at the time. But know that you might eat a little less of vegetables that are high in starch or sugars.

Know That In Terms Of Dieting, All Vegetables Are Not Created Equal:

Now, we'll move onto snacks that are part of your lean and green meal. For this main and larger meal, they want for you to have one serving of lean protein and three servings of vegetables. However, you should know that different vegetables have different classifications. They are ranked in terms of the least starchy to the most. And, until you have reached your weight loss goals and are on the maintenance phase of the plan, they discourage the vegetables with the highest amounts of carbohydrates and starches. Examples are corn, peas, and onions. They do this to jump start your progress so you can quickly get into fat burning mode.

For the rest of the vegetables (which is a pretty substantial list) you're encouraged to eat larger portions of low glycemic vegetables while eating a little less of vegetables that contain a higher amount of carbohydrates.

For example, you can have an entire cup of low glycemic vegetables like collard greens, lettuce, spinach, and other greens. But they encourage a half cup of the rest of the veggies on the approved list. And they break them down into three different categories: lower, moderate and higher carbohydrates. However, keep in mind that you are having three servings of the different vegetables, so that works out to be quite a plateful of vegetables.

While they define serving sizes that range from 1 half cup to 1 cup of each, they suggest focusing on the vegetables in the lowest ranges if you hit a plateau. To be honest, I've never thought about my vegetables in this way. I just don't think all that much about them. I just try to give myself plenty of variety and I don't worry too much about the rest. But I know that some people like to keep in form compliance.

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Can I Have All The Vegetables I Want On The Nutrisystem Diet?

I often hear from people who are a little confused about the vegetable requirements on Nutrisystem. Many have a favorite vegetable that they would like to eat a lot of but they aren't sure if doing so is going to negatively affect their diet. I heard from someone who said: "someone told me that vegetables are unlimited on Nutrisystem but I'm not sure about this. I love sweet peas. I pop them in my mouth like candy. I eat a lot of them and I never measure them out to see if I'm eating a cup or less. Is this going to be allowed on this diet? Is it true that I don't have to limit myself as far as vegetables are concerned?"

I'll try to answer this question below. But I'd like to first say that you should direct any concerns to the Nutrisystem counselors. That is what they are they for and they are more than happy to help. That said, I'll tell you my interpretation of the vegetable guidelines on this diet. It's my understanding that vegetables are broken down into two different types. They are classified as starchy and non starchy. Vegetables that have a lot of starch are classified as a "smart carb" or the category that contains mostly fruits. And you are asked to consume 2 smart carbs per day. So it's my understanding that those vegetables that are classified as smart carbs are limited to two per day. (And, if you look at the grocery guidelines, you will see that they also tell you the serving size of each.) For example, both black and white beans fall under this category and the suggested serving size is one half cup each. So if this woman was a huge fan of these type of beans, in an ideal world, she would limit herself to that amount twice per day.

However, looking at that non starchy vegetable list, sweet peas are on this list. So, they are considered to be a true vegetable rather than a carbohydrate. The minimum amount of vegetable servings that they want for you to have is four per day. Most people will eat two at lunch and two at dinner. Now, right on the guidelines, it says that many vegetables are unlimited. And they are talking about the vegetables without a lot of starches like broccoli, tomatoes or celery. But if you look closely at this list, you will see that sweet peas are listed with a generous serving size of one cup when they are raw. Considering that you need four servings each day, that would be up to four cups, which is quite a bit. (In fact, I can't imagine wanting to eat more than this.) However, if this wasn't enough for her, I think that she could make the argument that since this item isn't considered one of the smart carbs, it was in the unlimited category. After all, I can't imagine getting scolded for eating peas. But if you see that your results aren't what you want, you might experiment with some other type of vegetables to avoid boredom as well. And as I said, you should always check with the diet counselors just to be sure.

But to answers the question posed, many non starchy vegetables are unlimited on Nutrisystem. You just have to make sure that the vegetable you want to load up on is considered non starchy. The list is pretty extensive so you should be able to find the food that you considering and see what type of side item it is considered to be.

Want more tips on being successful on or starting Nutrisystem while saving money? Ava's Nutrisystem Information Website features articles meant to help you evaluate and have success with this diet. There's also a link to a free eBook and the latest coupons to help you get started. You can visit her at http://ava-alderman-weight-loss-articles.com/